|
| Not in my wildest dreams... |
| Wednesday, September 28, 2011 |
.. did I think I would write about this in my blog. What you ask? Cloth Diapers! :--P
It all started when I was 5months pregnant when I was researching on all things babies. I definitely wanted to cloth diaper, because the very thought of dumping diaper after diaper day after day in landfills where they take millions of years to degrade was quite unacceptable to the AIDer in me. When you have friends who dont let you use paper plates and paper napkins for occasions like parties, you feel all the more guilty to dump such large amounts of waste to pollute the environment.
But, when BSK was born, cloth diaper seemed to be the last thing on my mind. Let me get a handle on my life and my time and worry about my world before I worry about the fast shrinking rest of the world.
Now that things are normal, or rather I have gotten used to the hurricane that is everyday, I wanted to add more to the chaos.
More reading, researching ensued, now that I had done reading all the articles on the internet on 'Your baby's first 6 months' it was time to read about cloth diapering.
I had two BumGenius diapers, oh yeah, the diaper brands have some totally awesome names such as these, got as baby shower gifts. I ordered many brands to sample them. Oh Katys, FuzziBunz, Smartipants, Rumparooz, Blueberries, Kawaiis. I even ordered SunBaby diapers which are currently on their way all the way from China, on a real ship. One day as these were just on their way, I just put the diaper I had at home on BSK. I looked at her from all possible angles looking for leaks and wondering about the fit. Of course BSK was oblivious to the diaper around her, she doesnt care what is on her as long as she can do what she wants in it. It looked uber cute and just perfect.
Then I had to order specific detergent for use with cloth diapers. Now thats another can of worms, the washing of the diapers. Its not easy mind it, its a whole new science that forces you to know about the type of water you get in your house and the temperature your water heater is set to among other things. I have to admit I have never once put laundary at home after I got married. DH is the laundary man. Even otherwise I always follow what my first roommate told me, perm press is a neutral setting that works for all clothes, so I use that. If I had to design a washer and dryer, I would design one with just one button each - 'Wash' in the washer and 'Dry' in the dryer.
And then I started cloth diapering BSK. Now I am forced to know the types of washers/dryers in the market, the HE, the Front Loader, Top Loader. I have to know the cycles the washer goes through, the rinse, the wash, the spin, along with what exactly happens inside. I learnt that the Bulk/Bedding setting actually adds more water, and that the HE means High Efficiency which means the washer uses less water to wash clothes and that's how its efficient. I have never bothered to use softener, or didnt care to know what a pre-wash or a pre rinse meant. All the research over the past three or four weeks have taught me loads about washing, pun intended.
So after one week of cloth diapering successfully, I have learnt some more. Sun is the best bleacher and stain and stink remover. Old ways are the best! Baking soda is also good for removing stains. Vinegar is good for removing stink. Tree tea oil can be used to suppress bad smell. I feel like a real house wife when I get up in the morning and the first thing I do after I come down even before having my breakfast is to dry those inserts and diapers outside with cloth clips and all. And then I spend some time putting the inserts into the pockets so they can be used on BSK.
I am still experimenting on the washing routine, perfecting it, doing trial runs to see what works best. Its interesting. DH says once I figure out the perfect routine I will lose interest. May be he is right. One of the main reasons I dont like to do laundary, or dish washing, or any of the house hold chores :--P is because they are just that, chores. As long as I am in the sloping part of the learning curve I am a happy duck. I dont like zero slopes. But this time I dont want to give up. I dont want DH to take over yet another of the house hold chores. I want to do it. Forever. Err, until BSK is potty trained.
Till then I will love watching BSK wearing cute things on her bum and wiggling away to glory on her tummy. I dont think I was so excited to buy her clothes as I was to buy her diapers :--P And I think these are better investments as in she can wear them for a year atleast if used correctly, as opposed to clothes which will barely last a quarter of a year.
So talking of the pluses and minuses, I am not going to say anything new that is not already written wide all over the internet,
Plus -
- Cute things on the bum. Huge plus for me. Last night I stripped her down to just the diaper and watched her rolling over and chomping on her fingers and generally hanging out on the bed. DH was totally puzzled until I told him I like looking at her with just the diaper on. Crazy or weird as it sounds, thats how it is :--P
- Environment. Another huge plus for me, as I already mentioned. Some argue you use more electricity and water washing these things, but hell, how can you compare using water to wash reusable diapers to letting diapers decompose in landfills?
- Good stuff on BSK's skin. Another plus. I guess disposable diapers have also made huge strides in this area. But nothing like cloth. My argument to DH was to imagine wearing a paper underwear everyday.
- Cost effective? To some extent, I dont know. If I dont go overboard buying all the cute stuff out there.
Pain in the neck -
- Washing. Now I am excited but knowing me I might get bored, overwhelmed at some point. Stripping, stains, stinks, leaks and other issues will have to encountered at some point.
- Travelling. Yet to figure out how to cloth diaper when travelling. Definitely dont look forward to carrying soiled diapers in my luggage and err accidents happening. Some options like disposable inserts exist.
- Clothes for BSK. Obviously these diapers are bigger than disposables, which means normal clothes dont fit over her diapers. For now she just waltzes around in diaper and a onesie unbuttoned, but need to find a solution if any to this. Not a big deal.
And so SK grows and learns along with BSK. :--P
Whats new with BSK? Madame is quite a roller. The first time she rolled over from tummy to back only I was there. Nobody believes me still, she has done it again which makes me wonder if I dreamt it all. The first time she rolled back to tummy all of us were present. She just did it. I had the camera in hand but was just too fascinated in her trying that I totally missed to capture it. Then the next day she did it aout five times, we caught it on the camera to save for posterity. Now she doesnt stay on her back for a minute. Immediately she turns over. Now she has enough hand, neck, upper body strength to look high on her tummy. Quite some progress from only a month or two back. She recognizes us and smiles at us. When I go home in the evening she jumps in joy when she looks at me. How much have I longed for this! With recognition comes stranger anxiety I guess. We met some family friends at a restaurant and she went 'mmmmmmmm' with her lips pouted to start a wail as a friend picked her up. She laughs out loud. Imitates our laughter. I laugh, she laughs, I stop laughing and stare at her, she stares at me with a ready smile hiding, the moment I smile she starts laughing again. And God she is loud! She shrieks 'aaaaaaa' when she is toooo happy. She sticks out her tongue when she laughs. Its adorable. To see how long she has come from looking totally lost and in her own world, to actually recognizing us and eacting to us, life and nature is just truly amazingly beautiful.
|
posted by SK @ 10:01 PM  |
|
| 8 Comments: |
-
OMG! I think coming here to read this has absolutely, absolutely MADE my day :) She is soooooooooo unbelievably adorable - with her tongue-out laugh! :) And the stuff she's doing seems sooooooooo cute! You should try a post a video sometime of her thirumbifying :) I've been around tons of babies (my family is big-o-big) and the antics each one of them does is special. It's the most wonderful thing to watch a baby grow, I love admiring their carefreeness. Enjoy motherhood SK!
-
Oh......Cho chweet - totally made my day SK. thank you so much for a glimpse of BSK. She is a darling :)
-
-
BSK looks super adorable!
-
I love cloth diapering. I did not invest too much $$ and so was very cost effective...so many options! Also, DD never got a rash. I love Flips :D. I recently got some Kissaluvs and they are sooooo good at home with A Flip cover and also for potty training (we are almost there! yay). As Babystar grew older, I used disposables when we went out for more than 2 hours. I opted for convenience and a lighter diaper bag which was already filled with snacks and toys and sippy cups.
Good luck. You feel good about yourself when you're a CD momma.
-
Preeti, ;--)) video.. I will try.
Saumya, now if you see us somewhere do holler ;--)
Grad wolf, arch, danke! ;--))
Ltlstar, yay, another CD fan! It's fun ! ;--)
-
Sorry had to ask this - but CDs are washing in regular washing machine? :)
BSK is just fun isnt it? I love to just watch babies when they are this, quite calming.
I have a 1.5 yrd old nephew and
-
Sachita,
Of course, you know its job is to clean right ;--)
You sentence cut midway..
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
|
OMG! I think coming here to read this has absolutely, absolutely MADE my day :) She is soooooooooo unbelievably adorable - with her tongue-out laugh! :) And the stuff she's doing seems sooooooooo cute! You should try a post a video sometime of her thirumbifying :) I've been around tons of babies (my family is big-o-big) and the antics each one of them does is special. It's the most wonderful thing to watch a baby grow, I love admiring their carefreeness. Enjoy motherhood SK!